Death Prompts Overhaul in Dallas 9-1-1 Call Center
San Angelo Standard-Times (Texas)
DALLAS – Deanna Cook frantically called 911 to report she was being attacked by her ex-husband, only to have police knock on her door nearly an hour later and leave when no one answered. Two days later her family discovered her slain in her overflowing bathtub.
On another recent evening, a person waiting at the scene of a wreck had placed several 911 calls with no answer when another vehicle hit him, breaking his arm.
And earlier this summer, several callers trying to report a house fire eventually hung up when a recording told them to wait for the next operator.
These are the kinds of mishaps and delays the city of Dallas has faced as it copes with a staff shortage in one of the nation’s busiest emergency call centers. The Cook case in particular has gained national attention since her death in August and sparked heavy scrutiny on a call center enduring a spate of similar incidents in which residents say their emergency calls were mishandled or put on hold.
Cook’s family has sued the city and even questioned why the 32-year-old woman would rely on the city’s help in a life or death situation.
“Why didn’t she call my cousins?” said Cook’s sister Valecia Battle in a recent interview. “Why didn’t she call my mother? Why didn’t she call somebody who would get there with some sense of urgency?”
While experts say delays and mistakes sometimes happen in many of the country’s biggest emergency call centers, the publicity generated from Cook’s death has prompted a flurry of changes from Dallas leaders who acknowledge operators are sometimes forced to work long hours and handle an overwhelming volume of calls. Officials have hired more operators, changed how calls are logged and assured residents that their 911 calls won’t go ignored.
The operator who handled Cook’s call Aug. 17 was briefly suspended for not clearly stating to officers the urgent situation. Another who spoke to Cook’s mother two days later was fired for telling her she could not immediately report her daughter missing.
October 1, 2012
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